Page 43 of The Fadeaway
Unease settles in the pit of my stomach. I’m sure he thinks he can just ask some random person to watch Christian, but that’s not going to work. I can count on one hand the people I’d trust with Christian and most of them live too far to pop over for a date night.
“Don’t worry,” he says as if reading my thoughts. “I have someone in mind that I think you will approve of, but I don’t want to say until I check. In the meantime, show me what you’re wearing?”
He moves his head like he’s trying to see past the bottom of my screen. I laugh but angle it out and down so he can see the leggings and Valley basketball t-shirt I’m wearing.
“I’ve got team spirit,” I say and wave my hand around with an imaginary pom.
“Screw team spirit as long as you’ve got Joel Moreno spirit.”
God, the way he says it sounds so hot and dirty my sex clenches.
“What’d you do tonight?” he asks, leaning his head back on the headrest, his black hair still wet from showering.
“Christian and I watched the game and ate pizza. He crashed early because he missed his nap two days in a row, so I was working on stuff for the play.”
“How’s that coming along?”
“Good. I think the script is just about finalized. They’re letting me sit in on rehearsals which is amazing.”
He stifles a yawn.
“I think you’re tired.”
He shakes his head in protest.
“I should go anyway. Christian doesn’t understand weekends are for sleeping in.”
We hang up and I lie in bed watching thirty minutes pass, then an hour. Then two. I’m tossing and turning and just about to give up on sleep altogether when a text lights up my phone.
Joel: Open your front door.
My heart pounds quickly and I sit up and fling back the covers. He can’t be.
I move through the house quietly without turning on any lights. When I reach the front door, I look through the peephole and inhale sharply.
“Open the door, Kitty.”
I step back quickly and hear him chuckle. Taking a deep breath, I open the door and stare at him, certain the surprise is written all over my face. My eyes scan up and down taking in the way his athletic pants and long-sleeved t-shirt make him look like an athletic god. “What are you doing here?”
“I realized something, and I had to come see you.”
Wrapping my arms around myself, I stay firmly on my side of the doorway and don’t offer to let him in. I haven’t really thought this through, but I know I don’t want Christian to wake up to someone he doesn’t know in the apartment. “What’s that?”
He steps forward and grips my hip, pulls me to him and leans down until I can feel his breath on my cheek. He smells of mint and leather and cold and the combination makes me shiver into his touch. Instead of answering my question, he brushes his lips over mine softly. So much softer than I ever would have thought Joel Moreno capable of. I can feel him smile on my lips and then he presses harder, beckoning me to open. His tongue sweeps in and I melt into him, thankful he’s got a tight grip on me because I feel ridiculously shaky.
He pulls back and leans his forehead against mine only loosening his hold on my hip slightly. “Tonight was our third date.”
17
Joel
“Got a favor.”
Blair narrows her gaze. “I’m not setting you up with any of my sorority sisters.”
“I don’t need your help getting a date, but thanks for thinking so highly of me.” I roll my eyes and grab one of the donuts from the two boxes she brought over. “Can you babysit Thursday night?”
“Can you repeat that?”
